JoeMetz - Chemo Vacation, Scanxiety & Next Treatment UPDATE

I love your avatar.

I'm so sorry that your have such few options.  Chemo for life would not work for me, I am only on treatment three and I've had enough. I doubt I'd have the guts to go for chemo for life. 

I hope that you find this SirSpheres treatment works well for you. 

I've nothing more to offer but my prayers and support.

Trubrit said:

Handsome man

I love your avatar.

I'm so sorry that your have such few options.  Chemo for life would not work for me, I am only on treatment three and I've had enough. I doubt I'd have the guts to go for chemo for life. 

I hope that you find this SirSpheres treatment works well for you. 

I've nothing more to offer but my prayers and support.

Glad you have finished this tough part of the journey. I know some of JBG's chemos were awful for her.

Hubby has not reached this leg of the journey yet. Due to start rads on Mon. Docs can't give him both at the same time.

Hope Sir Spheres does well for you. Take care.

Luv,

Wolfen

joemetz said:

Hai & Thank you!

I had far too many leisons on the liver in the very beginning to ever qualify for a liver resection. (well, as least that's what I've heard from at least 5 different oncologists/liver specialists).

I had like 12 large spots (4cm x 7cm x 2cm) another dozen that were 1cm x 1cm x 1cm and then they said countless "micro spots".

luckily, the folfox and erbitux killed the micro spots and the 1cm spots, and we're down to about 6-10 spots that are about 2x4x2 or smaller.

so because of this, my options are a bit limited.

 

I have asked about HAI however, in Toledo and at Cleveland Clinic... the five different docs have said that its not an option.

part of me is thinking that I should get over to New York or Houston to get their opinions.

 

Have you had the HAI pump?

how'd it work for you?

thanks for your feedback and ideas.

 

Joe,

All due respect to Toledo and Cleveland, but I'm not sure why they said HAI wasn't an option for you; perhaps it was due to their lack of familiarity with the procedure?  (I assume they didn't do a specific scan of your hepatic artery vascularity.)  Do you have cancer anywhere besides in the liver and colon?  If so, and if extensive, that might make it a non-option; but if not, then I'm not sure why they said no.

Yes, I have the HAI pump.  Although it hasn't gotten me to resectability, many initially inoperable people have gotten to resectability via HAI.  In my case, I credit it as probably the reason I'm still here today, 3 yrs after stage IV diagnosis with 2/3 of liver involved, and only having had chemo treatment (no resection, other than the primary and 2 lymph nodes).  I still have numerous liver lesions (too many to operate on confidently), but they have all shrunk way down and calcified.  In fact, knock on wood, I've been off all chemo for over nine months now (hallelujah), with no growth of anything. 

In any case, I'll spare you details here, but you can certainly search the threads for more info on HAI... and I'd be glad to answer questions.  Just wanted to bring it up since IMHO it may be a slightly less "radical" option than Sir Speres (which again, I also see as a good option).  One caveat that you may have heard is that very few centers other than MSK in NYC do HAI (not sure about in OH), so that may be an issue if you can't get to NYC for the install, and once monthly thereafter. 

Best of luck,

Chip

I'm glad that overall things look good. As you know there's no One Path to take and No Guarantees at all. I've been at this a long time. A week ago I celebrated nine years of Living With Cancer. During the past six years (or so) I've been on Erbitux and Irinotecan and it's kept me in a place where I've gotten RFA's done roughly once a year. After this long in treatment one could say I'm on "Chemo for Life". It can also be viewed as "Chemo has given me Life". I strongly believe that we hold the power as to how we view ourselves. Are we People with Cancer or Victims of Cancer? There's no right or wrong, it's just how WE view ourselves but I believe it has much to do with how well we fare.

As you may (or may not) remember, I had HAI pump therapy and I've been under the care of MSKCC. There aren't many hospitals that do that therapy and some oncologists consider it to be outdated. I've mentioned that to my Onc (who's been a pioneer in the field) and she told me she's heard that a lot too. "But, many of my (her) patients are still around..." so that's that! I will say that we all need a break from time to time and also that the Erbitux rash is really a non-issue for me. I get some dry cracked skin and some mild rash on my torso but in the scope of things, it's not a big deal for me.

I'm not familiar with Sir Spheres other than hearing the name. I wish you well, enjoy life!

-phil

Hi there - I don't have any direct experience but wanted to tell you about this lady on another forum I visit who was told NO surgery on the liver because of too many lesions ... she visted MD Anderson (who by the way does not do the HAI procedure) and was told resection would be possible. Long story short, they opened her up and decided to abort the operation because the risk of resection was too high.

She then was encouraged by that board (online support board) to visit Dr. Kemeny at MSK for a consult ... she did and she qualified as a candidate for the HAI despite having numerous lesions and is currently doing very well ... she is still receiving systemic chemo along with HAI to address the liver mets ... but they have reduced in number and size and she is on deck for a liver resection soon.

I am not qualified to offer any advice, but if it were me, I'd look into the possibility of a 2nd opinion with Dr. K. Apparently, these situations are her specialty.